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Monday, October 13, 2008

Borsct is an Eastern European vegetarian soup,made with beetroots which gives its strong red color.It is a part of culinary heritage of European nations like Russia,Poland etc.There are several versions even within a nation and even non-beet versions with tomato exists and there are hot and cold borscht versions which are prepared differently.Russian Borscht has beets, potatoes,cabbage and meat and is served hot.Here I have tried to recreate Russian Vegetarian Beet Borscht which is from Indira of Mahanandi and she has replaced meat with vegetables and has included pasta which make the dish a wholemeal rather than a light soup.Here's my version.

Peel and chop the vegetables into small bite size cubes.Chop the cabbage coarsely.Chop the red onions finely and crush/mince the garlic cloves.Prepare the seasoning powders-roast and powder the cashews,and other whole spices together.I roasted and powdered cashews and used store bought spice powders.Chop the dill leaves.

Heat a deep pan with butter+oil .Add the red onions and garlic and saute till the onoins turn transparent.Add the vegetables starting with the potatoes,beets,carrots and lastly cabbage, sauteeing after each addition.Add salt,pepper and saute till they get coated and start to cook.Add the seasonings-spice +cashew powders+dill chopped+lemon juice+chilli powder+turmeric powder -and stir well to coat.Add more salt and pepper if needed and water to cook the vegetables.Cover and cook the veggies on simmer for 10-15 minutes till they are tender.Then add pasta and more water(and salt) if needed to cook the pasta and cook the pasta al dente.Turn off heat and let stand covered for few minutes.Ladle into bowls and serve as a nourishing soup or a wholesome meal.It was the latter for me.

Honestly I thought that I would end up with a garam masala beet curry or an Indian curry when I started working on it,as it takes almost all the garam masala spices,but in reality it was not like that-It was spicy to my taste but I did not feel it as a curry I was digging into.It was a warm bowl of macaroni with the healthy addition of veggies and spiced upto perfection.I have not tasted original Russian Beet Borscht,but Indira's style of Borscht was enjoyed and will be enjoyed once a week atleast,thats for sure.